Venue: Siambr Hywel Dda, Council Offices, Caernarfon, Gwynedd. LL55 1SH
Contact: Bethan Adams 01286 679020
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CHAIR To elect a Chair for 2016/17. Minutes: RESOLVED to elect
Councillor Trevor Edwards as Chair of the Committee for 2016/17. He took the opportunity to thank the former Chair and congratulated
Councillors Dilwyn Morgan and Angela Russell for gaining a national qualification
after they completed the Wales Leadership Academy Programme. |
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VICE-CHAIR To elect a Vice-chair for 2016/17. Minutes: RESOLVED to elect Councillor Angela Russell as Vice-chair of the Committee for 2016/17. |
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APOLOGIES To receive apologies for absence. Minutes: Councillors Anwen J. Davies, Gweno Glyn, W. Tudor Owen, Gethin Glyn Williams and Dyfrig Siencyn (Deputy Leader). |
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DECLARATION OF PERSONAL INTEREST To receive any declaration of personal interest. Minutes: Councillor Angela
Russell declared a personal interest in item 9 on the agenda - Gwynedd Harbours
Final Accounts 2015/16 as her daughter worked at Pwllheli Harbour. The member was not
of the opinion that it was a prejudicial interest and she participated fully in
the discussion on the item. |
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URGENT ITEMS To note any items which are urgent business in the opinion of the Chairman so they may be considered. |
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The Chairman shall propose that the minutes of the meeting of this committee, held on 5 May 2016, be signed as a true record. Minutes: The Chair signed the minutes of the meeting of this committee held on 5 May 2016, as a true record. |
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EXTERNAL AUDIT REPORTS PDF 61 KB To submit the
report of the Head of Corporate Support Additional documents: Minutes: The Senior Policy
Officer set out the context, drawing the attention of members to responses
received to what had been raised by members at the meeting on 21 January 2016.
The Strategic Planning Manager, Performance and Projects reminded members that
the role of the Committee was to satisfy themselves with the progress that had
been made. Members were given
an opportunity to provide observations on the report and appendix which noted
the audits undertaken by external auditors in recent years together with their
proposals for improvement, their action plans and progress to date. During the discussion the following main points were noted: ·
Paragraph 2.3 Awareness and use of advocacy
services - need to receive confirmation whether or not the Corporate Parent
Panel was satisfied that every individual received advice and support whether
it be official or unofficial; ·
Page 28 Young People not in education, employment
or training - need to receive confirmation of the number of young people who were
not in education, employment or training; ·
Page 38 (10) Timeliness of child protection
conferences - need to receive confirmation why it was difficult to achieve a quorum
at conferences bearing in mind the importance of the child safeguarding field; ·
Page 40 (11) Raise
awareness of the implications and requirements of Deprivation of Liberty
Safeguards (DoLS) and improve the governance
arrangements for the operation of the procedures - need to receive confirmation of what happened considering that there
were 119 on the waiting list. RESOLVED: (i)
To accept the report; (ii)
To ask relevant departments for responses to the
points raised during the discussion. |
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FINAL ACCOUNTS 2015/16 - REVENUE OUTTURN PDF 121 KB To submit the report of the Head of Finance. Additional documents:
Minutes: The report was
submitted by the Cabinet Member for Resources, he noted that the final
financial position of Council departments for 2015/16 confirmed that there was
effective financial management by the relevant Cabinet Members, department
heads and budget managers, despite the continued requirements to deliver
challenging savings. It was noted that the financial situation was better than
the projections submitted in the second and third quarters. It was reported
that there had been a substantial improvement in the financial situation of the
Adults, Health and Well-being Department. Attention was drawn to the financial transactions approved by the
Cabinet at its meeting on 7 June. The Head of
Finance Department noted that the 2015/16 underspend was more than expected
because the situation of the Health and Well-being Department had improved, but
the Department’s situation was still serious. It was also noted that the
Council faced a challenging period with general uncertainty in terms of Local
Government budgets. Attention was drawn to Appendix 3, where details had been
included on the harvesting work from specific funds which, together with the
underspend, had meant that the Council's general balances would have reduced by
only £833k from £6.4m to £5.6m on 31/3/16. Members were given an opportunity to provide observations, the officers
responded to them as follows: ·
Not implementing cuts, such as Public Toilets,
would only suspend action on a decision as it was anticipated that more savings
would have to be identified; ·
Gwynedd Consultancy's overspend was low bearing in
mind the high income levels and that it kept professional posts in Gwynedd
which would be located outside the County should it not be part of the Council; ·
An element of work undertaken by Gwynedd
Consultancy for the North and Mid Wales Trunk Road Agency had been internalised
by them, and the reduction in income by 2016/17 will be a matter for the Head
of Gwynedd Consultancy to consider when business planning; ·
The Council had sent
correspondence to every school asking them to confirm what they intended to do
with their reserves. The Schools Budget Forum had approved the right for the
Council from 2017/18 onwards to return reserves over the 5% threshold to Council
budgets; ·
When posts became vacant naturally during the
financial year, there was a tendency not to fill the post which had meant an underspend and giving up the budget the following
financial year therefore, the same level of underspend would not be repeated in
2016/17. The Chair thanked all officers involved with
the budgets for their work. RESOLVED to note the situation and the relevant risks in the context of the Council’s budgets and those of its departments. |
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GWYNEDD HARBOURS FINAL ACCOUNTS 2015/16 PDF 122 KB To submit the report of the Senior Finance Manager. Additional documents: Minutes: The Senior Finance
Manager submitted the report regarding the final accounts of Gwynedd Harbours
for the year 2015/16 in line with the statutory requirements under the Harbours
Act 1964. It was noted that Gwynedd Harbours was considered a small governing
body, as turnover was less than £2.5m, and due to the fact that completing an
annual official form for the Wales Audit Office (WAO) met statutory
requirements. Attention was
drawn to the fact that the accounts did not include Hafan
Pwllheli nor Victoria Dock,
as they were not included within the definition of a Harbour. It was reported
that the accounts and the form would soon be the subject of an audit by Deloitte,
Gwynedd Council's external auditors which had been appointed by the Auditor
General for Wales, and an amended version would be submitted to a meeting of
the Committee on 29 September 2016 should there be any changes. In response to an
enquiry by a member regarding parking income at Morfa
Bychan, it was noted that the income had been
included in the Economy and Community Department's Beaches budget therefore, it
was independent from these accounts. RESOLVED to accept and
approve the information in the appendices, namely - ·
Income and Revenue Expenditure Account 2015/16 - Appendix A; and ·
Statements of Accounts form for 2015/16, for audit - Appendix B. |
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SELF-ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE AUDIT COMMITTEE PDF 507 KB To submit the report of the Senior Manager Revenue and Risk. Minutes: The Senior Revenue
and Risk Manager submitted a report which reported back on a self-assessment of
the effectiveness of the Committee which had been held at a workshop for
members on 31 May 2016. It was noted that the guidelines of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and
Accountancy (CIPFA) ‘Audit Committee
– Practical Guidance for Local Authorities and Police' were used in order
to consider: ·
Whether or not the
Committee did the things it should, in accordance with the statutory
requirements on it and best practice. ·
How effective it did
these things. Reference was made to matters that required attention and it was noted
that a regular update was submitted to the Committee. The Chair expressed his disappointment that only 7 members of the
Committee were present at the workshop. A member noted that it had been an useful
activity and that it would provide a foundation for work. In response to an
observation by a member regarding formulating a proposed training programme for
Committee members, the Senior Revenue and Risk Manager confirmed that the
training programme, to be formulated for the Committee’s members, would be
implemented after the 2017 Election. RESOLVED: (i)
to accept the contents of the report as a basis for an action plan for
the Committee's further development; (ii)
that a regular update should be received. |
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GWYNEDD COUNCIL ANNUAL GOVERNANCE STATEMENT 2015/16 PDF 363 KB To submit the report of the Senior Manager Revenue and Risk. Additional documents: Minutes: The Senior Revenue and Risk Manager set out the background and context
of the report. It was noted that the Committee had received a regular update on the
work of the Governance Arrangements Assessment Group on the governance
self-assessment during the year. It was highlighted that the only score that
had changed, since submitting an update to the Committee at its meeting on 5
May, was the effectiveness score of Performance Management from 2 to 3 out of
5. In response to an
observation by a member, the Senior Revenue and Risk Manager noted that the
work of the Governance Arrangements Assessment Group, the Management Group and
the Audit Committee strengthened the Council's governance arrangements, and
provided evidence to support the Council should a challenge be submitted by WAO
in terms of the impact and effectiveness scores of elements of the Governance
Framework. He added that the increase in the effectiveness score of Performance
Management reflected the progress made to introduce a new performance
management system across the Council. RESOLVED: (i)
to approve the Annual
Governance Statement for 2015/16; (ii) to recommend that the Council Leader and the Chief Executive sign the
statement. |